(2008-03-15) Horton Justice Rule Of Law

Scott Horton for Harpers Magazine on that attack on the Rule Of Law within the Department Of Justice, driven by John Ashcroft and later Alberto Gonzales. Hiring for loyalty, Voter Fraud silliness, Attorney Gate (with some cases, like DavidIglesias, going directly to George W Bush), Selective Enforcement (Alabama Governor Don Siegelman). But the Bush Justice Department demonstrated its power in supporting a partisan electoral agenda and in outfitting the executive with extraordinary and extra-constitutional powers. Is it realistic to think that any new occupant of the White House would surrender those powers? The American historical experience on this point is clear: once a power or prerogative is successfully asserted by a president, his successors have generally guarded that power carefully, whether they make actual use of it or not. The one tool that has been wielded successfully in the retrenchment of presidential power is Impeachment.